& Friends on Technology Policy

Tag Archives: Innovation

The Hill reports that Sen. Patrick Leahy will be putting forth a manager’s amendment of PIPA for the January 24 vote, pledging to cut the DNS blocking provision from the legislation. Mike Masnick at TechDirt provides some critical analysis.

Gen. Keith Alexander, head of US Cyber Command, reiterates that active defenses are increasingly necessary to thwart cyber threats, suggesting the current approach used by most businesses is akin to the “Maginot Line.”

All the usual blustering and speculation in the latest Google antitrust debate has obscured what should, however, be the two key prior questions: (1) Did Google violate the antitrust laws by not including data from Facebook, Twitter and other social networks in its new SPYW program alongside Google+ content; and (2) How might antitrust restrain Google in conditioning participation in this program in the future?

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Senator Wyden and Representative Issa spoke about SOPA at CES and warned that there’s not much time left to stop the legislation. IBI Times and cnet discuss their remarks.

The Brookings Institute hosted an event yesterday entitled “Principles of Internet Governance: An Agenda for Economic Growth and Innovation.” You can watch the event here, and read a recap of the event from National Journal.

Pirate Bay is again “clogged up” by Dutch Authorities, who have ordered two ISPs to block access to the site, or face daily fines of €10,000.

Carl Szabo at NetChoice discusses the Second Circuit decision of Kirstaeng v Wiley & Sons that held the first-sale doctrine is inapplicable for products manufactured outside the US. NetChoice has filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court asking the Court to overturn the decision.

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Larry Downes has an excellent piece discussing Silicon Valley’s response to SOPA, the risk of unintended consequences when regulators intervene in areas they don’t fully comprehend, and the potential for the tech community to establish a bulwark against ill-conceived legislation that threatens innovation and prosperity.

Google, Facebook, and Twitter have endorsed the OPEN Act, proposed by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), as an alternative to SOPA and PIPA.

Vint Cerf had an op-ed in the New York Times yesterday making the point that technology is “an enabler of rights, not a right in itself,” and that engineers and technology creators have an obligation to empower and protect users of that technology. He closes on a thoughtful note:

Improving the Internet is just one means, albeit an important one, by which to improve the human condition. It must be done with an appreciation for the civil and human rights that deserve protection — without pretending that access itself is such a right.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Iranian government is instituting draconian obligations on Internet cafes, requiring them to install surveillance equipment and obtain personal information from customers. There is speculation that this is a precursor to what will be an Iranian intranet, designed to “insulate its citizens from Western ideology and un-Islamic culture, and eventually replace the Internet.”